Snow and ice control for parking areas around hospitals, shopping malls and industries is generally handled by private contractors or employees of such facilities who use a salt and sand spreader mounted to a vehicle. One type of spreader assembly is a “tailgate spreader.” A tailgate spreader is a device having a hopper for holding the sand or salt and a spinner plate for distributing the same. The spreader is attached or mounted behind the tailgate of the vehicle, and is supported by the tailgate or the bumper of the vehicle. Such spreaders find advantageous use for most small commercial applications.
However, when the area to be controlled is relatively large, it is known to use spreader assemblies that include hoppers that rest within the bed of a conventional pick-up truck. Heretofore, such structures were relatively heavy and included an elongated hopper having a conveyor device within the hopper for conveying the sand or salt to a distributor.
The present invention provides an improved bed-mounted sand and salt spreader assembly for use on vehicles with flat beds.